Starting a new series on this blog ‘The Kingdom of God is at Hand’, with this first topic on Healing.

I am sorry to have to disappoint the naysayers, if it sounds like I am making a statement in the title that Christians don’t get healed. Christians do get healed, but there are some who don’t. For years, I have been asking the question why some don’t get healed, and have been seeking out the answers for it. Revisiting this again since the start of this year, I have finally found the revelation to ‘Why’.

The concept of healing has always intrigued me, and I always believed in the verses written in the bible about healing.

Recently I exchanged notes with a Brother who serves in ‘The Healing Rooms’ ministry, and I was glad to hear the insights from him confirmed the revelations that I got for this topic of healing.

R: Brother, when you minister to a person that needs healing, do you know the reasons why the person doesn’t get healed?

B: First, the person must be willing to receive healing and ready to seek God. Look at the healings Jesus did during His ministry, the person must seek and desire healing, as God will not force His will on anyone. The person needs to respond to Him in faith and God will reciprocate with healings.

R : So an open heart to seek God is one of the keys to healing, faith is just part of the equation.

B : Yes for sure. You know the word Salvation, the Greek word for that is SOZO, which means saved, healed and delivered. Healing and deliverance, is part of salvation working together.

R : To be delivered, there are spiritual roots that causes blockages that need to be removed, in order to complete the healing. Do you agree that repentance from these issues is an important part of healing?

B : Yes, Repentance is the only thing that will bring transformation for a person. Many can confess and repent all they want, but if they don’t walk in holiness and in the Holy Spirit, the spiritual house isn’t swept clean. And when the spiritual house of a person, isn’t swept clean, Jesus said that the evil spirit will come back seven times stronger! (Matthew 12:45)

R : Yes I had that same understanding too from the verse in Matthew. Sanctification is needed to keep the healing and for everyone who calls themselves a true Christian.

R : There is this part in the Bible that is relevant too, about partaking in the Holy Communion, being that, examination of self / repentance is needed, if not people will fall sick and even die!

B : The part of partaking Holy Communion; if we are partaking it in an unworthy manner, we eat and drink of our own sins, that’s why it is written people still fall sick and died after partaking it as they did not discern the Body of Christ correctly.

1 Corinthian 11: 27 – 32 (AMP)

‘So then whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in a way this is unworthy [of Him] will be guilty of [profaning and sinning against] the body and blood of the Lord. But a person must [prayerfully] examine himself [and his relationship with Christ], and only when he has done so should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks [without solemn reverence and heartfelt gratitude for the sacrifice of Christ], eats and drinks a judgement on himself if he does not recognise the body [of Christ]. That [careless and unworthy participation] is the reason why many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep [in death]. But if we evaluated and judged ourselves honestly [recognising our shortcomings and correcting our behaviour] we would not be judged. But when we [fall short] are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined [by undergoing His correction] so that we will not be condemned [to eternal punishment] along with the world.’

R : Some will exclaim, “I didn’t sin! I have been very generous giving to others and have treated others very well.”

Now I think it is important that Christians have to be honest with themselves and see that we do fall short of the glory of God continually in some areas of our lives.

Hebrews 12:15 (AMP)

‘See to it that no one falls short of God’s grace; that no root of resentment springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.’

This verse says that any resentment springs up in a person, will defile a person. So if we have bitterness, we have some rejection, if we have unloving spirits towards an individual, if we have unforgiveness in our hearts, or that we hold something against others due to what they have done to us in the past. That root of bitterness will keep us from the blessing of God.

Repentance isn’t a bad word. Somehow it has been misunderstood that we only need to repent once when we are saved by Christ. Repentance isn’t sin consciousness, that produces condemnation. It is conviction.

After Repentance or conviction that we need to stop doing things that are not pleasing to God. Sanctification becomes an ongoing and continuous process as Christians, as we are told to examine ourselves continually if we are in the faith.

2 Corinthians 13 : 5 – 6 (AMP)

‘Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves! Or do you not recognise this about yourself that Jesus Christ in in you – unless you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit.’

Sanctification is how one’s life line up in obedience to the word of God.

R : I have heard from people before, “I prayed for healing, have full faith in it, and even had many people to pray for me, why am I still not healed?”

B : Sometimes it seems that God don’t answer prayers for healing. It is not due to lack of faith, but it’s simply His will for the person. We need to seek out what is the will of God exactly, to know what God says for that person. I believe in predestination, look at the babies slaughtered during Herod’s time when he was looking for baby Jesus. How about the billions of babies aborted today? The bible says that it is better for them for their eyes have not seen evil and they are in a better place (Romans 9:11).Our fallen world is a suffering world, which is why Christ came to suffer and be crucified for our sakes, in order to redeem us.

R : Indeed Brother! We need to seek the Lord to know His will and only He is our Jehovah Rapha (Our God our Healer)!

The Lord always heals and it’s not that He is not willing to heal, but we need to know what is written in the word of God in regards to healing. And know the steps to take for a complete healing process. Having the faith to believe He heals is just an activation, but blockages that block the healing need to be taken out of the way through the process of deliverance. For some, healing can be immediate, for others, it will take time.

Subsequently, an individual needs to know what is needed on his/her part to keep the healing.

Praying works miracles, and knowing His will for the situation, how to pray and actions taken, will make the difference whether one can be healed, or can keep the healing.

P.S. Illnesses for Children are approached differently. Often the cause of illnesses in Children is generational, issues that are not resolved on the parent’s or grandparent’s end that are passed down to the children.

There are always God’s solutions to illnesses, we just need to seek Him to search it out!

I think this year has to be the year where I can attest to God’s goodness for my family. I never expected that I would be able to have a place that Hb and I can own, what more have this opportunity to incorporate what we hope our home to look like.

K looking into the Master Bedroom

The home renovation has been a rather organic process for me. Hb and I had some requirements of what I hope to have in the new home, but I was not very specific about what I wanted it to exactly look like.

In fact Hb and I had a short disagreement on this.

It started when he didn’t like the look of the stone tiles on the feature wall, despite my efforts of letting him look at it and getting his ‘approval’ before implementation. For him, these stone tiles on the feature wall was looking ‘pasty’ and he considered having this wall removed when it was 70% done.

I had to convince him that any feature in a home cannot be isolated as a single element, as it needs to interact with the fixtures around it. At that point, the black-frame doors weren’t even up.

This stone wall almost got torn down after hb changed his mind after thinking that it looked ‘pasty’

Then he brought up this concern he had with me not being specific enough to let the ID know exactly what I wanted for the home. There I was trying to incorporate what he hope to have, as well as my preferences for the home. As the home was a combination of ‘us’ and not just a single person’s preference.

In my frustration, I told him that if this home was just all about me, I would have preferred a white-based coloured kitchen and lighter tiles in the bathrooms. However I took all his preferences in and adjusted it according to what I felt would look best aesthetically.

That ended the disagreement.

Fundamentally the issue was really this; It was a difference in our personalities. Hb knows what he wants for the home, but there were limitations locally to the kind of materials that were available in the market. So our ID had to find alternatives and I provided my inputs on how I felt things can come together aesthetically.

Hb is not able to visualise how the material would look like in a space, while I could imagine how things would look like in a space. I just needed to see the tile’s design, and I would visualise how it would come together with the other elements in the home. So his peeve became, “Not the specific material I want to have, vs how this alternative could be congruent with the look we wanted in the home’.

So I learnt that from this process, that having different taste can create disagreements between a couple when it comes to renovating a home.

Besides, I was really caught off guard having this opportunity to create a home from a ‘blank palette’, and I did not have a long list of expectations for any new home from the beginning, except for a few specifics. I didn’t spend time in recent years dreaming about what my house could look like, or looked through interior design styles on Pinterest, until the planning for the renovation started. Since I was rather caught by surprise this year that we were ready to get our new home

So that’s how the look of the home ended up evolving rather organically.

I didn’t pay any visit to the tile shops to choose what I wanted for the walls or the flooring. All I did was to tell my ID, I wanted hexagonal tiles in certain shades for the balconies, as well as some areas of the home. Added with some marble and some wood in the other fixtures. Even the tiles to my kitchen was somewhat organic, as the contractors hacked a little too much of the marble from my living room leading to my kitchen, so I said “Why not have a combination of tiles leading to the kitchen?’

Even the craft room floor tiling was a result of ‘Why not do this since we needed some form of congruency across the flooring of the home?’

Jack, our ID from Three D Conceptwerke got used to my free-flowing aesthetic style, when his ideas for tiling (which was more retro style) for the type of tiles got thrown out by me mostly, after a number of times 😬.

There are many details in the foundation elements of the home that reflect my quirky preferences.

Case in point; Hb don’t like this wall in the kitchen, calling the tiles ‘toilet-looking’ tiles’. This was my choice, as I felt it added a quirky personality (which is so ‘me’) to the rest of the kitchen, which will be in marble and darker wood. I feel that a variation in the type of materials used in a same area will bring some layers and textures, while the shade chosen has to be congruent with the rest of the shades selected for the kitchen.

So how is the house looking after ‘adding this and that which we like’?

I think it is looking exactly what I hope for in our home, a combination of hb’s and my preferences. If hb had it his way with the home, it will be all marble and wood, and natural stone everywhere. He likes the ‘Lux’ look for the home, while I think can be nice, but lacks warmth, as it’s too ‘glamourous’ for my liking, with little personality. So that’s where my geometric shape tiles and texture come in!

Having engage an ID worked with us on our new home, the look of the home is a good representation of hb’s and my personality and preferences, rather than what the ID planned for us.

Jack from Three-D-Conceptwerke has been fundamental in maximising our space and layout in the home, giving us invaluable advise when it came to whether ‘this or that’ will work, and proposing ideas to allow more light and making the movement in the home more intuitive. What more his project management skills. positive attitude, patience and efficiency was most commendable.

The Interior Nazi in me rose up to the occasion when it comes to lighting and tapestries in the home. As long as I can get a neutral palette for the home that will age well, it is really more about layering in this home for me.

In slightly more than 1 month, we are moving into this new home, I am still considering if I should reveal more of what we are doing for this space on the blog in the coming months.

But if you are keen to see the real time progress, do check in to my Instagram posts and stories for updates!

Our recent trip to Maldives was not a fulfilment to a bucket list, since I am not one who loves to travel, but more of a result of an impulse decision. Right after our Japan trip, hb suggested that we should take a trip to Maldives during K’s 1 week Sept school holidays, since some of his air-miles were going to expire at the end of the year.

7 days seemed like a perfect number of days to spend on a ‘remote’ island without getting bored.

A flight from Singapore to Maldives Velana airport is only about a 4 hours flight away, as SQ have two flights into Maldives daily, either a late morning arrival or a late night arrival. We opted for the latter and stayed one night at the Maldives Airport Hotel as the seaplane flights to Thaa Atoll did not operate at night.

Having done that, I think it will be a better choice to to take an early morning flight from Singapore and then try to get seaplane transfers in the same day, without the hassle of finding accommodation in Male or at near the airport.

Snaps taken while waiting for the Como Maalifushi Counter to open to arrange for our seaplane transfer the next morning.

Once our luggage was checked into the counter, we were driven to the Maldivian Seaplane building, about 10 minutes drive away, and ushered into a comfortable Como (the name of the resort we travelled to) Lounge to wait for our boarding.

Watching the seaplane from the Como lounge while waiting to board our Seaplane to the resort

When hb and I were planning for our trip to Maldives, we wanted to experience a fairly new resort in a remote (untouched Atoll) as the quality of the coral reefs were one of our considerations. So we didn’t really considered the time we needed to travel on the seaplane. There are many other options of resorts in Maldives that can be reached by seaplane under 30 minutes of travel time. The other consideration we took into account was comfortable rooms with direct access to the sea, i.e., water villas. The photos on Como Maalifushi website seemed to show that they have beautiful water villas with a good house reef, while being family friendly at the same time.

Most resorts with water villas have an age restriction for children, as families with children under the age of 8 years old are not allowed to stay in the water villas but have the option of beach villas or rooms to stay in.

When in Maldives, the whole family needs to love the sea (ie. have no fear of the water or the swimming in the sea) to be able to fully experience what most of the resorts can offer. Especially since it is not the most budget-friendly or convenient place to travel to with children. When travelling with young children who are still on diapers, or milk or just started solids, be prepared to lug everything along with you, as it will be almost impossible to get any baby suppliers when stranded on an remote island.

It’s still more worthwhile to go to the mid to high end family resorts in Phuket or Krabi when one has young children below 8 years old, taking into account less hassle for travel.

Some resorts even have ‘adult only’ restrictions. I have read on the TripAdvisor that some resorts have restrictions that kids are not allowed in any of the restaurants or common areas after 630pm.

I think travelling to Maldives with children who are at least 10 years of age will be the most optimum, since 10 years old is also the age that PADI allows children to take their first Discover Scuba lesson or Open Water course, which will be directly converted to a Open Water License when the child turn 16 years old.

On the Maldivian Seaplane

The journey itself to Thaa Atoll where Como Maalifushi is an experience on its own, since its my first time travelling on the seaplane. As more than 95% of the seaplane journey was very scenic (can be disconcerting for some who have a fear of heights) as the seaplane it took another 1 hour on the seaplane to reach Thaa Atoll where Como Maalfushi is located.

The seaplanes are not allowed within the shallow areas of the Atoll surrounding any resort. So the ‘landing pad’ is a wooden floating platform in the middle of the sea. So it can get a little scary with strong currents and wind (no issue during the high season when the seas are calmer), as one tries to get a steady stance on the platform, while waiting for the boat from the resort to arrive and transfer the luggages and the passengers onto the boat for the 15 minute ride to the resort.

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